Warring parties committing ‘widespread sexual violence’ in Sudan: HRW

The warring parties in the conflict in Sudan have engaged in widespread sexual and gender-based violence in the capital Khartoum, an NGO has reported.
Forces commanded by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have regularly carried out rape and gang rape among other crimes since the start of the civil war in April 2023, a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday said. It also noted numerous attacks on health facilities and staff.
The report, which is far from the first to note the use of sexual violence in Sudan, was based on interviews with service providers, including healthcare and social workers, counsellors and lawyers who directly interacted with hundreds of survivors of sexual violence in Khartoum, as well as the sister cities of Khartoum North and Omdurman. Access to survivors was limited due to war conditions, it said.
“It finds that warring parties have subjected women and girls, from ages nine through to at least 60, to widespread sexual violence, including rape and gang rape. Women and girls have also been subjected to forced marriage and child marriage. Men and boys have also been victims of sexual violence,” HRW said.
Most cases were attributed to paramilitary RSF forces, which embedded itself in many areas of the capital in the early days of the war. Although accused of fewer violations, numerous crimes were also attributed to the army.
“Services providers described particularly high levels of sexual violence in populated areas of Khartoum North and Omdurman, including by SAF after it regained control of parts of Omdurman in January 2024,” according to HRW.
Many survivors said they were raped by multiple perpetrators, sometimes involving up to five RSF fighters, who also seized women and girls from their homes, streets and workplaces, and detained or confined them in homes and other facilities they occupied in Khartoum and the sister cities.
“We received a case of a mother and her four daughters who were raped in front of their father and brothers. They were not able to leave their home as the RSF placed them under some sort of house arrest. These women were raped repeatedly for days. One of the daughters was pregnant when they were able to reach us,” a health worker in Khartoum was quoted as saying.
The RSF also subjected women and girls to forced and child marriage, according to the rights group, which added that some relatives agreed to such marriages in hopes of protecting the women or girls from rape outside the marriage, or for financial reasons.
HRW said many survivors have been left with immense physical, emotional, social and psychological scars after suffering sexual and gender-based violence. In at least four cases, the physical injuries suffered by victims led to death.
“Many survivors sought to terminate their pregnancy when they became pregnant from rape; these survivors could not necessarily access abortion care,” it said.
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, also confirmed widespread sexual violence across Sudan in a report earlier this month, especially in the Darfur region, where the RSF has also engaged in acts constituting ethnic cleansing.
More than 10 million people have been displaced since the war started in April 2023, according to the United Nations, and the conflict shows no signs of immediately stopping as warring parties continue to vie for control of Sudan.